Thursday, August 13, 2009

This is the third in my series of edinburgh Fringe reviews. I lack a clip for this show, so have put in a lego version of the A-Team opening theme instead!

The A-Team - The Musical

As I waited to get into this show, outside the Gilded Balloon, several thirty-something’s turned to stare at the huge chalk board bearing the show’s name and said ‘Ooh, what a great idea! I wish I was going to see that.’, or words to that effect. That, my friends, is the power of nostalgia. For those of us who sat in front of the telly of a Saturday teatime in the 1980’s, enthralled by the exploits of Hannibal, Face, B.A and Murdoch, the memories are strong and very special. Yes, the storylines for every episode of the A-Team were always basically the same, but there was a certain comfort in that. You always knew that however many helicopters crashed, however many shots were fired from automatic weapons, however many grenades were thrown at innocent stunt villains who had to gracefully jump out of the way, nobody would get hurt. This show revisits those predicable storylines (from B.A. being drugged with milk to get him on a plane, to Hannibal’s ridiculous disguises at the start of each show) with humour and wistfulness, and adds in some songs for good measure. The show would be enjoyable enough if you’d never watched the A-Team, but really, you can only fully appreciate it if you’ve seen, as I have, more episodes than you’d ever admit to. The show is deliberately cheesy and the performances are sometimes spookily similar to the gloriously wooden ones of the original TV show. The A-Team van (you remember, black with a diagonal red stripe down the side) has to be seen to be believed. They even manage a car chase involving the much reviled Colonel Decker. The songs are good if not particularly catchy, but the cast make up for this with their charm. The real pull is the promise of being able to wallow in memories of television past, that remind you of a happier, more innocent time. I love it when a plan comes together.